This Saturday we return to action at home to Curzon Ashton,  looking to build on the home win over Kidderminster in our last outing (writes Simon Hahn).

We remain in 14^th place five points above third bottom Telford -- one league game did take place on Tuesday but Tamworth's late defeat at Salford meant nothing has changed at the bottom of the table.

Our opponents Curzon Ashton are one of four teams on 37 points, two behind ourselves and three ahead of danger. They do though have a game in hand on ourselves and most of the sides around them.

They started off the season well and at one stage back-to-back victories saw them move into the top ten. However, after this, a terrible run of one win in 12 which came against bottom of the table North Ferriby saw them drop into the bottom three.

Recent victories over Telford and York have helped their survival chances, but they are far from out of the woods yet.

Our meeting early on in the season was Martin Gray's final game in charge which ended in a 1-0 defeat. Curzon also came out on top when we met at Blackwell Meadows in January 2017 by 3-1.

Before last season we went head-to-head with Curzon for the Evo-Stik Division One North title in 2013/14. They again got the better of ourselves winning both fixtures, as they lifted the title securing promotion in the process.

The two sides occupying the final two relegation spots both face tough home games on Saturday, as Gainsborough host Kidderminster and Telford play Spennymoor.

Tommy has more players at his disposal this week, with defenders Gary Brown and Ben O’Hanlon and midfielder James Caton back in the squad after recovering from injury.

Kick off on Saturday is 3:00pm, updates on the game will be made from the club’s Facebook, Twitter and Website. Live Commentary will be broadcast from Darlo Fans Radio at 2:50pm.

Team news:

Statistics:

Quakers last five matches:

24^th February Kidderminster (home) won 2-1 Heaton, Thompson

Pears, Trotman, Heaton, Vaulks, Galbraith, Turnbull, Wheatley (sub Scott 69), Saunders (sub Gillies 69), Syers, Thompson, Styche

Subs:  Bancroft, Glover, Mills

17^th February Brackley (away) lost 0-3

Pears, Trotman, Heaton, Galbraith, O'Hanlon, Turnbull, Wheatley (sub Glover 78), Gillies, Syers, Mills, Saunders

Subs: Scott, Bancroft, G Brown, Milburn

10^th February Bradford PA (away) won 1-0 Syers

Darlington: Pears, Trotman, O’Hanlon, Turnbull, Heaton, Galbraith, Gillies (sub Brown 84), Wheatley, Styche (sub Mills 89) , Syers, Thompson

Subs: Scott, Bancroft, Saunders

3^rd February Blyth (home) won 3-0 Thompson pen, Styche, Syers

Pears, Trotman, O'Hanlon, Turnbull, Heaton, Galbraith, Caton (sub Gillies 78), Wheatley, Styche (sub Saunders 82), Syers, Thompson (sub Scott 88)

Subs: Bancroft, Brown

27^th January Leamington (away) won 3-2 Thompson 3

Pears, Brown (sub Syers 24), Heaton, Galbraith, O’Hanlon, Trotman, Wheatley, Scott (sub Turnbull 62), Thompson, Styche, Mills (sub Caton 62)

Subs not used, Bancroft, Gillies

Leading scorer:  Reece Styche  9 (inc 2 in Trophy) Stephen Thompson 8

Team news:  Dominic Collins has stepped up his recovery from injury, and will take part in the warm up on Saturday, as will Tom Portas

Gary Brown, James Caton and Ben O’Hanlon (all of whom missed the home win over Kidderminster)  have all declared themselves fit.

Chris Hunter is still injured, but has stepped up his recovery

Current league position: 14^th (five points above relegation zone)

Position in form table of last six games:  6^th (Southport top)

Home form:  played 16, won 7, drawn 4, lost 5, goals scored 27, against 20, points 25 (out of 39)

Best home winning margin 4-1 v Alfreton, 3-0 v Blyth, 3-0 v FC United

Curzon Ashton

Last five matches

24/02/2018 Southport (A) Lost 3-1 (Regan)

17/02/2018 York City (H) Won 4-1 (Cummins 3, Walker)

13/02/2018 AFC Telford United (A) Won 3-0 (McKenna, Dunwoody, Cummins)

10/02/2018 Boston United (A) Drew 3-3 (Dunwoody, Shaw, McKenna)

05/02/2018 Kidderminster Harriers (H) Lost 2-1 (Hunt)

League position: 17th

Position in form table of last six games:  12^th

Top scorer: Niall Cummins 15

Away form:  played 16, won 3, drawn 5, lost 8. Goals scored 21 against 33, points 14 out of 37

Best away win: 3-0 at Telford

Previous meetings:

2013-14 Curzon Ashton 1 Darlington 0, Darlington 0 Curzon Ashton 4

2016-17 Curzon Ashton 1 Darlington 2, Darlington 1 Curzon Ashton 3

2017-18 Curzon Ashton 1 Darlington 0

Bartlett, Marrs, Ferguson, Turnbull, Collins, Galbraith, Thompson (sub Cartman 59), Wheatley, Beck, Gillies (sub Saunders 75) Dawson (sub Portas 57)

Subs: Wilczynski, Scott.

Curzon: Mason, Baillie, Guest, Rowney, Howson, Shaw, Leonard, Marshall (sub Clark 79)  Wharton, Baker, Bianga (Sub McKenzie 58)

Subs:  Crothers, Butterworth, Shenton

Saturday’s games:

AFC Telford United v Spennymoor, Bradford PA v Alfreton, Darlington v Curzon Ashton, Gainsborough v Kidderminster, Harrogate Town v FC United of Manchester, Leamington v Chorley, Nuneaton v North Ferriby, Salford City v Blyth, Southport v Tamworth, Stockport v Brackley, York City v Boston